Race, Community and Child Welfare

Nationally, African-American children are overrepresented in child protective services from referral to placement in foster care. African-American children and families are also treated differently; reports of abuse are more often substantiated and children spend longer times in foster care for example.  

Kentucky partnered with the Annie E. Casey Foundation in August 2005 to understand and address this overrepresentation and disparate treatment.

We have learned a great deal, for example:

• African-American children and families are referred by the community for child abuse and neglect at twice the rates that would be expected based on census data.
• Abuse is substantiated at higher rates (28 percent) for African-American families compare to 24 percent for white families.
• African-American children are in foster care at 2 and a half times the rates expected based on census data.
• African-American children spend more time in foster care, have more moves in foster care and are 20 percent less likely to be reunified with their parents. 

It is clear that issues of race must be addressed by public child welfare agencies and by the community. In response, DCBS is launching a five pronged approach to addressing this problem. We are:

1. Building community awareness through discussion and joint decision making with community partners.
2. Educating professional staff through several venues.
3. Changing practice by disseminating Casey’s Family to Family principles.
4. Coordinating efforts between branches of government to maximize resources.
5. Engaging in continuous self-evaluation by examining race impact and our progress. 
   

We will target 11 Kentucky counties where African-American children are represented in foster care at more than 1.5 times the census rates.